The latest annual report of the finance ministry has disclosed that the agency funded seven projects worth USD 750 million in 2023-24.
Sections in the US State Department and Pentagon have always felt more comfortable dealing with all powerful Pakistani generals instead of elected civilians, points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
UPI has catapulted India into the forefront on the global digital payments landscape. Working hand in hand, the AePS payments system is making life easy for rural folks, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
We propose an expert group be set up to form a national strategy on digital fraud. This group would bring together skills in financial regulation, security economics, cyber defence, and public communications, and an understanding of the Indian financial and security systems. It should lay the foundations of a coordinated approach by the Indian State in fighting digital fraud, suggest Ajay Shah and Nandkumar Saravade.
Manas Sood, a Class 12 student from the Delhi Public School, has distributed 2,650 boxes of Tax City Education and empowered over 12,000 students from 52 schools across India. His aim? To help young Indians understand taxes and become financially literate.
In 2023-2024, 95 scheduled commercial banks received over 10 million complaints from their customers. The process of KYC at many banks has become 'HYC' -- harass your customer, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
India's consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation could ease in the coming months thanks to the arrival of kharif crops, lower international commodity prices, and a pass through of lower input costs to consumers, the finance ministry said in its Monthly Economic Review (MER) for October, which was released on Thursday. The MER, however, warned that the global macroeconomic situation remained precarious and a recession in many advanced economies would impact India's exports. "Easing international commodity prices and new Kharif arrival are set to dampen inflationary pressures in the coming months.
'The government, if it deems fit, will incorporate the changes in the Bill, take approval from the Cabinet before moving the bill for consideration and passage in the Lok Sabha.'
The summons come after an FIR was registered by the ACB on April 30 based on allegations of financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore in the construction of over 12,000 classrooms or semi-permanent structures in Delhi government schools.
The government on Sunday appointed former Niti Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya as the Chairman of the 16th Finance Commission. Joint Secretary in the finance ministry Ritvik Ranjanam Pandey will be the secretary to the commission, the government said in a notification. "The President is pleased to constitute a Finance Commission with Dr Arvind Panagariya, former Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog and Professor, Columbia University, as the Chairman. Members of the Commission will be notified separately," it said.
Tharoor also said he is honoured by the invitation of the government to lead an all-party delegation to five key capitals to present the nation's point of view on recent events.
Tarun Bajaj, an old hand at the finance ministry, on Friday assumed charge as the economic affairs secretary. He comes back to North Block at a time when the economy is facing headwinds due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.
India has opposed the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) proposal to extend fresh loans of USD 2.3 billion to Pakistan, citing concerns that the funds could be misused for financing state-sponsored cross-border terrorism. India abstained from voting at the IMF meeting, expressing concerns about Pakistan's track record and the possibility of debt financing being misused for terrorism. The IMF took note of India's statements and its abstention from the vote. India's opposition comes at a time when military conflict between India and Pakistan has intensified following a terrorist attack in Kashmir.
HDFC Bank has denied Lilavati Trust's allegation that the bank's MD and CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan was involved in a series of financial frauds. The allegation levelled by Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust (LKMM Trust), its trustees and officials against the bank's MD and CEO are baseless and malicious, an HDFC Bank's spokesperson said.
Markets regulator Sebi is actively working with the Ministry of Finance and other financial regulators on setting up a centralised KYC (Know Your Customer) system, chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey has said. The Central KYC is an online database that maintains KYC records of customers in a centralised manner, aiming to streamline compliance across financial institutions.
New-age stocks to buy: Most new-age stocks have turned out to be wealth destroyers in stock markets, so far, in calendar year 2025. Shares of Ola Electric Mobility, for instance, have plunged nearly 50 per cent in the first half of CY 2025, while those of Swiggy, PB Fintech, Paytm, and Eternal (Zomato) have crashed between 6 per cent and 25 per cent, ACE Equity data shows.
At a time when the finance ministry is focusing on addressing employee grievances, the number of employees in most public-sector banks (PSBs) has declined over the last three financial years.
The formulations in the declaration in reference to terrorism is going to be to our "satisfaction", Dammu Ravi, secretary (economic relations) in the external affairs ministry said on Monday.
Since April 4, around 35 importers in India have either not received any shipment of the magnets or have not been granted the import licences by China.
Bank unions on Friday deferred their two-day nationwide strike beginning Monday after they received positive assurance from both the finance ministry and the IBA on their demands, including a five-day work week and adequate recruitment in all cadres. The strike call for March 24 and 25 was given by United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella organisation of nine bank employees' association.
This will be the first full-year Budget of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government since it came to power for a third consecutive term in July last year.
The interest rate on these schemes have remained unchanged for over a year now.
This marks a 67% increase from the Rs 2,537 crore lost in scams in 2022-2023.
The distance between North Block and Mint Road has been growing for quite some time. The latest evidence of tension is the finance ministry's decision to introduce a clause in the Banking Amendment Bill allowing banks to trade in commodity futures, despite the central bank's reservations on the issue.
Three key babus will make room for a new set of officers to carry the baton of Budget programmes.
The bank made a Rs 67 crore net profit, up 21% from the previous year. Its deposits grew 8%, the loan book 10%. Net bad loans dropped from 7.53% to 6.07%. So why was the banker, who headed the bank, not promoted?
The finance minister, in her Budget speech, should focus more on what she is directly responsible for, rather than on programmes where her role is largely supportive, notes Nitin Desai.
The power ministry had approached the department of disinvestment in August 2007 for approval for NTPC's FPO, which could fetch the company nearly Rs 6,000 crore to part-finance its expansion programme.
As per the official procedure, athletes have to submit bills within 15 days of the completion of a training or competition for which advance has been disbursed.
The telecom ministry has referred the matter of number of 3G spectrum slots in each circle to the Finance Ministry.
'The government is actively engaging with EU to ensure that concerns of Indian companies and hard-to-abate sectors are adequately addressed under CBAM'
At least six major UK universities have announced plans to set up campuses or liaison offices in India.
As per established tradition, the finance minister met the President at the Rashtrapati Bhavan before heading to Parliament.
State-owned banks have received guidance from the government to close Jan Dhan accounts whose beneficiaries are unwilling to keep them active, amid rising instances of such accounts being misused by fraudsters as mule accounts to defraud people, people aware of the development said.
The Border Security Force (BSF) is set to receive government approval for 16 new battalions, comprising around 17,000 personnel, and two forward headquarters for its western and eastern commands. The move aims to strengthen security along the India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders, respectively. The new battalions and headquarters are part of a larger plan to address evolving security dynamics and challenges in the border regions.
The government has decided to discontinue the Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS) starting from Wednesday in view of the evolving market conditions, the finance ministry said. However, the banks may continue their short term gold deposit schemes (1-3 years), the ministry said in the statement on Tuesday. Till November 2024, approximately 31,164 kilograms of gold have been mobilised under GMS.
With the summer approaching sooner than scheduled, Maharashtra, Telangana, Odisha, and West Bengal have already started experiencing heat waves with temperatures soaring above 40°C.
The Budget assumes significance as it comes on the back of lower-than-expected growth numbers during the second quarter and geopolitical uncertainty.
Kumar, who played a key role in implementing decisions following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir during his stint in the Union home ministry, took charge as an election commissioner on March 15, 2024.
The prospect of protracted uncertainties in the global economic landscape not only pose a risk for India's growth outlook in 2025-26, but are also likely to dent the private sector's capital raising and investment plans, the finance ministry averred on Tuesday, cautioning the country's corporates that the era of 'easy pickings' was over.
